Barack Obama and Black Boys (50th post extravanganza!)

I’m not sure how many bloggers have talked about this, but whether Obama wins next Tuesday or not, I can absolutely say that his campaign has done and will do so much for the self esteem of Black boys in this country. What is it like when, in the midst of the “thug” image we see on BET every day, there is an educated Black man running for president? What is it like when wearing a suit is now the cool thing to do? I saw this picture on Yes We Can (Hold Babies) and it almost brought a tear to this strong black woman’s eye:

It is so wonderful to know that my little cousins and brothers can know that one day they, too, can become president if they so choose. How inspiring that is to our generation of Black boys who can look at Barack Obama and see that they can be whatever they want to be, including ruler of the free world. Like these two boys, who saw Obama speak in North Carolina in January 2008. Photographer Callie Shell on the shooting of this picture:

These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, “Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King’s words can be true for them.” Jan. 21, 2008. From YWCHB

The generation after me will have so much to be proud of, so much to aspire to, because of the campaign of a Black man who was once a boy in Hawaii.